Rio Tinto, Chalco ink iron ore deal with Guinea 

After a long negotiation, Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto got the nod from the Guinean government to develop the country's Simandou iron ore mine with Chinese joint venture partner Chalco.

But the deal came at a high cost. Rio Tinto will have to pay $700 million to the Guinea government and let it take up to a 35 percent stake in the Simandou project.

Heng Kung, an analyst at Anxin Securities, said the stake transfer was a compromise made by the company to sweeten the deal.

Rio Tinto once owned the exploitation rights for the Simandou project, which is considered to have the world's most promising untapped iron ore resources, until the Guinean government took rights to two parts of the deposits away in 2008. The company has tried hard to keep the other two sections of the project through talks with the government.

The stake transfer also means a change to Chalco's rights in the project. The joint venture was originally slated to take a 95 percent share in the project. Now, Chalco will have to invest a total of $1.35 billion over the next two to three years to get a 47 percent stake in the joint venture.

Rio Tinto expects the mine to start production by the end of 2014 and begin shipment by mid-2015. China will have priority to purchase the ore after the project reaches an annual output of 70 million tons.

歷經多番波折之后，力拓和中國鋁業計劃共同投資的幾內亞西芒杜鐵礦項目，終于有望“黃燈”變“綠燈”。

如今，力拓的堅持終于有所收獲。在記者昨天獲得的聲明中，力拓除了表示要向幾內亞政府支付7億美元，以獲得兩個地區的開采權，還將把其在西芒杜鐵礦石項目中最多35%的股權逐步轉予幾內亞政府，以盡快推進這一項目。

安信證券分析師衡昆指出，股權轉讓更多的是與政府作出妥協和讓步，以便順利獲得西芒杜鐵礦石項目的開采權。

西芒杜鐵礦山被稱為全球最具潛力的未開采礦山，力拓曾一度擁有整個西芒杜地區的采礦權，不過，幾內亞政府在2008年剝奪了力拓在西芒杜北部1號和2號礦區的開發權，理由是力拓開發該區塊速度緩慢。此后，盡管幾內亞政府還威脅過將剝奪其在西芒杜南部3號和4號礦山的采礦權，力拓一直未放棄在這一地區的拓展。

這一新的協議也意味著，中國鋁業在此項目中的權益也將出現變動。因為根據雙方此前的協議，由雙方新成立的合資公司持有力拓所占西芒杜項目的95%股權。中國鋁業將在未來2~3年內向合資公司分期投入總共13.5億美元用于項目資本開支，最終獲得合資公司47%的股權。

根據力拓的計劃，希望西芒杜項目在2014年年底前投產，2015年年中前開始鐵礦石發貨。而西芒杜項目首期達產后，鐵礦石產能預計達到7000萬噸/年，并優先供應中國市場。